Window dressing systems are typically used for decorative purposes around a window as well as for blocking light entering a room from it. These systems usually include a drape having hooks or carriers which can be movably engaged with a track mounted over a window along a wall. The draperies can be slid back and forth along the track to a position that allows a desirable amount of light to enter a room through the window. Numerous devices, such as wands or cords and pulley arrangements, can be used to slide the carriers back and forth along the track when adjusting the position of the draperies to a desired location.
Often, it is desirable to provide draperies with pleats to give them a more decorative and appealing look. Pleating, however, usually requires a more complicated system of carrier tracks and carriers. Additionally, pleats formed in the draperies can make cleaning more difficult. This problem is compounded since pleated draperies are also more difficult and time consuming to mount once they have been cleaned due to the added complexity of the carriers and track system.
Carriers have at times been made with separable fasteners to simplify removal of the draperies. Fasteners, such as snap fasteners, have been used to connect draperies to the carrier elements so the draperies may simply be separated from the carrier elements and the track by unsnapping the fasteners. However this method has presented additional problems in the form of inadvertent loosening of the draperies from the carriers. For instance, moving the draperies too rapidly, brushing up against the draperies, or simply the weight of the draperies themselves often caused such snap fasteners to become unfastened at unwanted times.
With window dressing systems, it is often desirable to use a top window treatment, such as a valance or cornice. Such a window treatment decoratively covers the top region of the draperies as well as any mechanisms such as tracks or carriers. Using a top window treatment, however, also adds to the complexity of the window dressing system since additional brackets are necessary to hold the treatment over the top region of the draperies without obstructing their longitudinal movement. In the past, various brackets and fasteners have been used to mount these additional top window treatments, but those brackets and fasteners have presented problems due to the added complexity as well as the added difficulty and expense involved in assembling the components on site and mounting the window dressing system along a wall. Additionally, removal and cleaning of those window treatments have been difficult and time consuming.
The present invention addresses the foregoing drawbacks of known drapery systems.